Compound words with BED

BED is a hinge word: 4 words make a compound in front of it and 4 make one after it, so it can sit in the middle of a chain and hold two compounds together at once.

Words that go in front of BED

Each of these makes a compound ending in BED.

• deathbed — death + bed
• riverbed — river + bed
• seabed — sea + bed
• waterbed — water + bed

Words that follow BED

Each of these makes a compound starting with BED.

• bedroom — bed + room
• bedside — bed + side
• bedspread — bed + spread
• bedtime — bed + time

Why BED joins on both sides

BED is a small concrete noun that doubles as a place. A FLOWERBED or a SEABED is a layer of something, while BEDROOM and BEDSIDE treat the bed itself as a location.

Bridges you can build through BED

Put any word from the first list in front and any word from the second behind, and you have a three-word chain in which both neighbouring pairs join. Here are some of them.

• DEATH → BED → ROOM — deathbed and bedroom
• RIVER → BED → SIDE — riverbed and bedside
• SEA → BED → SPREAD — seabed and bedspread
• WATER → BED → TIME — waterbed and bedtime

Play a bridge

KEYSTONE is a free daily puzzle built entirely out of chains like these. You get the two ends and have to fill the two words in the middle. Three bridges a day, no account, no cookies.

Play today's KEYSTONE

Other hinge words

Each of these has a page like this one. There is also an index of all 28.

BACK · BALL · BOARD · BOOK · BREAK · DAY · DOWN · FALL · FIRE · GUN · HAND · HEAD · HOUSE · LAND · LIFE · LIGHT · MAN · NIGHT · OFF · OUT · OVER · SHIP · SIDE · SOME · TIME · WAY · WORK